


Found

by Drag0nWr1tes



Series: Too Loud (a Voltron AU series) [2]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Cuban Lance (Voltron), Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Everyone hurts, Hurt Keith (Voltron), Hurt Lance, Hurt Shiro, Hurt/Comfort, Langst, M/M, Protective shiro, Rape/Noncon mentioned but does not happen, protective keith, trigger warning
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-17
Updated: 2018-03-17
Packaged: 2019-04-03 19:58:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,794
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14003565
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Drag0nWr1tes/pseuds/Drag0nWr1tes
Summary: Shiro and Keith find Lance





	Found

**Author's Note:**

  * For [KitWasHere](https://archiveofourown.org/users/KitWasHere/gifts).



> By popular demand here is the fic about Lance being found. At the end of this fic is a link to a poll I've made for a plot point in this series.
> 
> This fic is being gifted to KitWasHere because her comment on "Loud" really lifted up my spirits when I felt really bad about myself.

They found him in the crawlspace behind the stairs; music blaring at an ungodly volume all around. He was so thin, thin to the point that Shiro was able to count each rib, around his lips were thin bloody puncture wounds (five on his upper lip and five on his lower) and his skin was mosaic of black and purple bruises.

But it was him.

The boy he and Keith had loved for so long. The boy that Keith still cried for when it was just him and Shiro. The boy that used to tease them whenever they would be together.

Their Lance.

No one knew what had happened to him three years ago, but here he was now. The answer finally laid out before them. “Lance,” Shiro whispered. He knelt down in front of the boy. His eyes were wide as he stared at Shiro, disbelief and fear clearly defined in them. “It’s me, baby, do you remember?”

Lance’s lips moved slowly, nothing but a garbled mess left his throat at first. Then, “K-Kashi?” It was Lance’s voice. It was gravely from lack of use but it was _Lance’s voice_.

Shiro’s eyes stung when he heard the nickname. Only Lance called him that, Keith would call him either Takashi or Shiro. “It’s me, Lance.”

Suddenly, the music took on a note of bullets going off and Lance yelped as he covered his ears and ducked his head.

Shiro looked over his shoulder at one of the other officers behind him. “Get that music off, now.” His voice may have been quiet but his tone offered no room for argument and the officer jumped up to do as he was told. As soon as the music was off Shiro turned his attention back to Lance. “Lance, can I pick you up?”

Lance looked at him again with wide eyes before slowly nodding, his lips trembling as he started to silently cry. It took everything in Shiro not to cry himself when he picked Lance up. He was so light that it took no effort for him to be picked up and held tightly to Shiro’s chest.

“Officer Shirogane,” another officer called, “Your partner said they lost the suspect. He’s on his way back now.”

They lost the man that did this. The one who had kept Lance from them for three years. Shiro did his best to keep the growl that wanted to break free out of his voice. “Thank you, Officer. Tell him I’m riding in the ambulance with Lance.”

The officer nodded and pulled his radio from his belt to relay the message to Keith.

Lance whimpered in his arms. “Ka-Kashi?”

Shiro looked down at the bundle in his arms. “I’m here Lance,” he said. “I’m going to take you to the hospital where they’ll make the hurt stop.”

The smaller man’s eyes widened. “N-no, I can’t leave,” he said. He tried to wiggle out of Shiro’s arms but he was too weak and hurt. “Ma-master will be so mad and-and I’ll get in trouble.” Tears were making their way down his cheeks. “I-I can’t be bad. Master wi-will—”

“Lance breath,” Shiro said. He held Lance tighter to keep from losing his hold on him. “He won’t touch you. Not ever again.” It broke his heart hearing Lance call this... _monster_ by that title. It spoke to just how badly he’d been abused. “Keith and I will keep you safe?”

Lance slowly stopped struggling and looked up at him with wide eyes. “K-Keith?”

Shiro smiled slightly. “Yeah, Keith. We’re here and we’re going to keep you safe.I promise.”

Big blue eyes stared up at him, their color made so much more vibrant by the tears shining in their depths. Slowly, he nodded and turned to hide his face in Shiro’s chest.

When they stepped outside, the noise of the street, the other officers and the ambulance were amplified by a thousand. Just like he had in the house with the music, Lance covered his ears and let out a whimper. “Lo-loud.”

Shiro frowned and brought Lance over to the ambulance. “Lance, I have to put you down so the paramedics can look at you.”

“No! No, Kashi, please don’t le-leave me,” he whimpered, his hands weakly fisting his shirt.

“I’m not, I’ll be right here the entire time.” It took some coaxing but eventually, he got Lance to lay on the gurney. Lance’s blue eyes never leaving Shiro as the paramedics worked to examine him.

“Officer, we need to get to the hospital,” one of them said. “He has some internal injuries that need to be taken care of.”

Shiro nodded. “I’m riding along.”

The two didn’t argue, just loaded Lance into the back of the van with Shiro’s help. Shiro did his best to stay out the way as the one paramedic worked but he kept hold of Lance’s hand. It seemed to be the only thing that kept Lance calm.

Shiro wasn’t going to let go of Lance anytime soon.

* * * * *

The doctor had needed to drug Lance to be able to take care of him. Lance hadn’t wanted to be away from Shiro for a moment but there really wasn’t much that they could do. Shiro hated feeling Lance’s already frail form go limp in his arms but there hadn’t been a choice. Lance was hurting himself more by struggling and the doctor needed to take care of him.

Shiro had to keep reminding himself of that as he sat in the waiting room. Lance’s tear-filled voice calling for him still filling his ears.

Keith came into the waiting room only a few minutes later, a confused look on his face. “Shiro? What’s going on?”

The older officer slowly pulled his face out of his hands and looked at his boyfriend and partner. “It’s Lance. Th-the victim in that-that place was Lance.”

It took a second for Shiro’s words to sink in but once they did the younger man’s knees wobbled. Shiro was up and guiding Keith to one of the chairs with his hands clutched tightly in Shiro’s own larger ones. “Keith, breath.”

It took a few tries for Keith catch his breath and he looked up wide-eyed at Shiro. “Lance? I-it’s him?”

Shiro felt his eyes tear up. “Yeah, it’s him. He’s _alive_ , Keith. He’s alive and we’re going to keep him safe.”

Normally Keith was the one to hide his emotions away but Lance had been missing for so long that it was physically impossible now. His eyes filled with tears and he leaned into Shiro as they began to spill over. “Ho-how bad was it?”

Shiro’s flesh arm moved to wrap around Keith’s shoulders. “Bad,” he said. “God, Keith he was so _light_ and the bruises…” He shook his head. “He looked so scared and in so much pain.”

Keith whimpered and leaned into his larger boyfriend. “Oh God.”

“The doctor had to sedate him so that they could take a look at him, he didn’t want to let me go.”

Their hands found their way to one another and held on. They’d been searching for their missing boyfriend for so long that the relief of finally having him back also brought with it the questions of what had happened. Before they’d found Lance in the closet, Shiro had gotten a look at the place. Drugs were strewn about and the fact that Lance had referred to his abuser as “master” spoke volumes.

“We need to call Coran,” Shiro said. “We have to let him know we need to be taken off the case and tell him that we have Lance back.”

Keith swallowed the lump in his throat and nodded. He wanted to be the one to find the bastard that had hurt their sweet caring boyfriend but he knew that Shiro was right. “I-I got it.” He took his cell phone out of his pocket.

* * * * *

Coran sent Allura and Hunk.

The two looked wide-eyed and stunned at the prospect of knowing that Lance was ok. Hunk’s eyes were red and a little puffy. He and Lance, along with Katie “Pidge” Holt, had been friends for years so the prospect of Lance being alive and ok was probably hitting him almost as hard as it was hitting Keith and Shiro.

“It’s really him?” Allura asked.

Shiro nodded and closed his eyes when another wave of tears came at him. “It is,” he said. “La-Lance is alive.”

Hunk looked like he was going to break down and start sobbing any minute. “I-I have to call his brothers and sister,” he said. “They need to know.”

Allura placed a hand on her partner’s arm. “Go on, when you’re done talking with the doctors and nurses about the physical evidence they collect from Lance. I’ll head over to the crime scene and start helping Detective Antok and his partner.” She looked at Shiro and Keith. “They’re going to want to talk to Lance too but I’ll see what I can do about letting him have a little time to get his bearings.”

Keith breathed a sigh of relief. “Thanks, Allura.” She nodded then her and Hunk went to do their jobs. Keith dropped his head back in his hands and let out a shaky breath. “What do we do Shiro?”

Shiro wrapped his arm around Keith’s shoulders. “We protect him and make sure he knows he’s safe now. No one will touch him again.”

* * * * *

Lance was so malnourished that the doctors wanted to keep him in the hospital for awhile. Beyond that, he’d suffered nothing less than torture for the past three years. One of his worse injuries had been a badly healed broken leg, Lance would forever have to walk with pain and a limp because of it. When the doctor had shown Keith, Shiro and Hunk the X-Ray’s he’d taken, it spoke to just how often Lance had been beaten. When the words “sexually abused” made their way past his lips, Keith had needed to leave the room to calm down.

Shiro had expected it, to be honest. They’d gone in knowing that a prostitution and drug ring were being held there. It wasn’t a shock to hear Lance had been abused that way. It didn’t make hearing it any less painful.

Now, Shiro and Keith were sitting on either side of Lance’s bed. He was still unconscious from the sedative and would be for a few more hours. Outside was another officer to keep watch. Coran had sent a protective detail to watch over Lance when he heard that there would be the chance of his capture coming back. It didn’t matter if he were there. Lance would never be without either Keith or Shiro there to keep an eye on him. They weren’t going to let something happen to him, not again. Not after finally having him back.

When his eyes started fluttering open, Keith was instantly by his side. “Lance? Kitten, it’s me, Keith.”

Lance pried his bright blue eyes opened and stared up at the mullet-sporting cop. “Ke-Keith?”

Keith smiled, one of his hands gently caressing his cheek. “Yeah, Kitten, it’s me.”

Shiro moved around the bed so he was standing behind Keith but was still in Lance’s line of sight. “We’re both here, Lance.”

Lance’s eyes darted all around them. “Wh-where is he?”

“He who?” Keith asked. He moved one of his hands to hold on to one of Lance’s.

“M-master,” he whispered. “He’ll be so mad at me i-if I’m not there when he comes back.”

If took every ounce of willpower Keith posed to keep the snarl from his face. He was so glad Shiro had warned him of this before Lance had woken up. “He’s not going to touch you. Not ever again.”

“We’ll keep you safe, Lance,” Shiro added. “You’re never going back to that man ever again.”

Lance didn’t look like he completely believed them, but he didn’t argue. Instead, he just held tighter to Keith’s hand and refused to look anywhere but at Shiro and Keith.

* * * * *

Lance was missing.

Keith and Shiro had stepped out for two minutes while they talked with his doctor when they heard the alarm go. They’d trusted the officer to keep an eye on him for two minutes but he hadn't. He’d turned his back on Lance while he went to get coffee.

Now he was gone and Shiro and Keith were freaking out. The two had split up, Shiro taking the parking garage and surrounding area with Hunk while Keith and the hospital staff searched the hospital.

For three hours they searched but couldn’t find him. They’d even checked the security cameras but there was no sign of the missing man anywhere. Keith was getting closer and closer to breaking down the longer that they went without any sign of Lance.

Keith stopped back into Lance’s room, his heart pounding as he went into the attached bathroom. The thought of Lance being hurt or taken making him more and more anxious and terrified. He turned the sink on and splashed some water on his face. What if this was all a dream? What if Lance was still missing? Or worse, what if that man had gotten in and taken Lance again? What if he was being tortured right now?

A sound drew his attention to the built-in shower and tub. His eyebrows drawing together in confusion. Was that a..whimper?

He and Shiro had changed into civilian clothing back Keith still had his gun on him. He almost always did now. His hand rested on the butt of the gun as he slowly approached the shower.

With a quick movement, he moved the shower curtain out of the way and got ready to draw his gun. Then his eyes widened when they landed on the body curled up in the bathtub.

Lance had squeezed himself into the fetal position with his hands over his ears as he rocked himself and cried.

“Oh Lance,” Keith crouched down and carefully put a hand on his boyfriend’s shoulder. “Kitten, come on it’s ok.”

Lance looked up at him, his eyes wide and wet. “Keith?”

“I’m here,” he said. He reached down into the tub and carefully lifted Lance’s frail body into his arms. He whimpered and ducked his head so it rested just below Keith’s chin. “I’ve got you.”

“Yo-you left,” he whispered. “You and Shiro left and it-it got so _loud_.”

Keith bit his lip as he gently placed Lance back on the bed. “I’m so sorry, Kitten. We didn’t mean to scare you. We’re not going to leave you.”

Lance held tightly to Keith’s arm as he tried to pull away. “Don’t go, please don’t go.”

“I’m not leaving. I just need to get my radio and tell Shiro your safe.” He pointed to where the radio was sitting across the room. “See, it’s right there.” Reluctantly, Lance let him go but Keith made sure to stay in his line of sight the entire time. He pushed a button on the side. “Shiro, come in.”

There was static for a minute. “I’m here,” Shiro said.

“I have Lance, he never left his hospital room.”

“I’m on my way back, is he ok?” Keith could practically hear the relief in his voice.

“He’s fine, just shaken up.”

“I’m entering the hospital now, see you in a few.”

Keith put his radio down and went back over to Lance. He’d curled himself back into as small of a ball as he could. It broke Keith’s heart to see him like this. “Lance, can I hold you?”

Lance looked at him for a moment before nodding and carefully scooting over to let Keith into the small hospital bed. Keith gave him a small smile and climbed on to the bed then arranged Lance securely in his arms, his head resting just below his chin and his arms tucked between them. Keith could feel his shirt wetting as Lance cried but he didn’t care. He had Lance in his arms and that was all that mattered right now.

When Shiro entered the room, he let a small smile come to his face as he closed the door behind him. His heart was still going a mile a minute but it was ok now, Lance was here and he was safe.

There wasn’t room for Shiro to lay with them on the bed but that was fine. He sat in one of the chairs next to the bed, his eyes never leaving the two on the bed. Lance seemed to have cried himself to sleep and refused to let go of Keith.

“We have to keep him safe,” Keith said. “We have to Shiro.”

“We will,” Shiro said. “No one will hurt him again."

**Author's Note:**

> The link to the poll can be found here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/FKQY66D
> 
> The poll will close on March 20, 2018.


End file.
